Revision as of 05:51, May 13, 2011

The Eparchy of Astana and Almty is a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church with jurisdiction over the cities of Astana and Almaty and the provinces of Almaty, East Kazakhstan, Karaganda, and Pavlodar in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In July 2010, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church established the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan as a metropolia, with the then-Archbishop of Astana and Almaty being elevated to the rank of metropolitan and First Hierarch of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan.

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History

In 1871, the Russian Orthodox Church in Turkestan was organized as a diocese with its seat in Verne (now called Almaty). Forty-five years later a separate vicariate was created for the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan with its seat in Verne, whilst in June 1945 the Diocese of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan was established. As the Soviet Union collapsed this diocese was divided into three dioceses, the Eparchies of Alma-Ata and Semipalatinsk, Chimkent and Akmola, and the Urals and Guryevskiy.

Eparchy today

Following the designation of Astana as the new capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan the seat of the Eparchy of Alma-Ata and Semipalatinsk was transferred from Almaty to Astana, while the diocese itself was renamed the Eparchy of Astana and Almaty. The Eparchy today shepherds 58 parishes, eight monastic communities, and a theological seminary in Almaty and maintains two diocesan cathedrals, the Cathedral of the Dormition in Astana and the Cathedral of the Ascension in Almaty.